We have settled nicely into a routine of bus trips, hostel administrivia (I’ve finally memorized my passport number), and grocery-store dining. We—meaning myself and Wil, a friend from university—worked up the energy to take the bus to Vienna after a lazy week in Prague. The Czech Republic has one of the best bus companies I’ve ever seen, the famous Student Agency (not only for students, thankfully). For 300 Kč (about $16 CAD) you get a very comfortable ride from downtown Prague to Vienna (3.5 hours) in a comfortable coach with leather seats, free coffee and tea, newspapers, magazines, and an in-ride movie. Our movie was a strange Czech film about gangsters who operate in nightclubs both to traffick drugs and to compete for the affections of pansexual bar nymphs. After that, we were shown an episode of Friends with Icelandic subtitles (?) (or as the title translates, The One With The Worst Best Man Ever—shown during the title sequence when all the men are standing by an outdoor fountain in tuxedos).

We checked in at the Palace Hostel, a place far from downtown but with a mini-golf course on the premises. Immediately thence, it rained, and rained, and continued to rain intermittently for the entire time we were in Vienna. The city is lovely, but after two weeks in the European capitals, the gorgeous architecture and ancient statues and cobblestone streets begin to blend together, forming a kind of crust over your eyes, even moreso when they are under a deluge of rain day and night. This is Tourist Stuff, and while I am a Tourist, it is hard not to feel that there is a kind of monotony that blankets the big European cities. The feeling is akin to eating a sumptuous steak dinner every night: eventually, you’ll start to crave a burrito. Hence, Hungary!

I should talk a little about this trip and how it came about. First of all, I quit my job to go on this trip, and when I return home I’ll have absolutely nothing left but the shirt on my back. This is how it is, and how it ought to be. For me, traveling around the world is a one-shot deal. Endless travel does not need to become your “lifestyle”, nor do I care for erecting a philosophy around it (though I did enjoy Vagabonding). I do not aim to globetrot perpetually and forever, stopping off at home every three years when my parents call me home for some family function, only to head back out. For most people, travel is leisure, and a life of nothing but leisure soon wears you down. I’m well aware that after a certain length of time I will grow tired of travel, and when that happens, I will come home.

Fortunately, that time is a long way off.

My itinerary is roughly as follows:

• Eastern Europe (Munich) - 2 months
• India (Delhi) - 1 month
• Southeast Asia (Bangkok) - 7 months

The cities in (parentheses) are the destinations given by my Round-The-World ticket, purchased at the lovely Travel Overland agency of Munich (hence the designation of Munich as “Eastern Europe”, which clearly, it is not).

The way the ticket works is, I fly from Montreal to Munich and then two months later there is a flight waiting for me to Delhi, and a month after that, to Bangkok. Then, seven months later, a ticket home. The destinations are fixed but the dates can be changed for a fee, and the ticket is valid for a maximum of one year.

By “Eastern Europe”, I’m referring to some, if not all, of the following places: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Turkey.

There are certainly others I’d like to see, nor will I necessarily see all of those (I’m already past Slovakia, e.g.).

My travels in India will be restricted to that country, for I don’t have the nerve for Pakistan or Sri Lanka, nor the patience for Bhutan.

In Southeast Asia, I’m hoping to get through: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Phillipines, various Indonesian islands, Hong Kong, and if I have time, parts of China.

Having no fixed itinerary gives great flexibility, but also induces a kind of travel paralysis. For example, last week I was in Prague, and utterly torn between three possible destinations: Krakow, Poland; Bratislava, Slovakia; and, Vienna Austria. Here are some factors complicating the decision:

• Krakow is about 11 hours by train, and the others are 4. Furthermore, it’s another 7 or 8 hours to leave Krakow towards the south (Budapest)
• bus tickets to Bratislava are in short supply, and I’d have to wait a few more days before I could leave. Vienna, I could leave for anytime.
• Vienna is far more expensive than the others.
• exceedingly cute Czech hostel bartender who is interested in travelling to China herself….

A dilemma to drive you to the madhouse! I chose Vienna, but only because a decision had to be made. Which was a mistake, since Prague was good, cheap, and fun, and Vienna was expensive, bland, and… well, fun. Still, I’ve learned a lesson: as long as you are enjoying yourself in some place, and not fretting over the cost, just stay there.